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A
CATECHISM
| 1. |
What is your Christian name?
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| 2. |
Who gave you this name?
My godfathers and godmothers in my Baptism
when I was made a part of Christ’s body, the child of God,
and one who has a share in the kingdom of Heaven.
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| 3. |
What did your godfathers and godmothers then promise
for you?
They promised three things in my name, first
that I should turn my back on the Devil and all he does, on
the tempting things that pass away in this wicked world, and
on all the sinful things the body wants to do: secondly that
I should believe all the different parts of christian teaching,
and thirdly that I should do what God wishes and tells me
to do, and follow this all the days of my life.
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| 4. |
Do you think that you ought
to do and believe as they promised for you?
Yes, truly, and by God’s help so I will,
and from my heart I thank our Father in heaven that he has
called me to everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
And I pray God to give me his power that I may stay so to
the end of my life.
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| 5. |
Say the Creed.
I believe ..................
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| 6. |
What are the chief things
you learn in the Creed?
I learn to believe in God the Father who
has made me and all the world, and in God the Son who has
saved me and all men, and in God the Holy Spirit who makes
holy both me and all the people of God, and these three are
One God. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the
Holy Spirit.
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| 7. |
Your parents and godparents
were told that you should learn God’s commandments. How many
are there?
Ten.
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| 8. |
What are they? |
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| (1) |
I am the Lord, your God, you shall have no other
gods but me. |
| (2) |
You shall not make for yourself
the likeness of any thing, in the sky above, or in the world
below, or in the water under the earth; you shall not bow
down to them nor worship them. |
| (3) |
You shall not use the name of the Lord, your God,
wrongly. |
| (4) |
Remember to keep holy a Day
of Rest. You shall work six days and do all that you have
to do, but the seventh day is a Rest Day of the Lord, your
God. |
| (5) |
Respect your father and your mother. |
| (6) |
You shall not kill. |
| (7) |
You shall not commit adultery. |
| (8) |
You shall not steal. |
| (9) |
You shall not say what is not true against other
people. |
| (10) |
You shall not covet.
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| 9. |
In what words did our Lord teach the Commandments?
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the
first and great commandment. And the second is like it, You
shall love every one of your people as yourself. There is
no other greater than these. All the law and the words of
the prophets come from these two commandments.
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| 10. |
What are the chief things
you learn in these Commandments?
I learn two things: what I ought to do for
God, and what I ought to do for other people.
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| 11. |
What ought you to do for God? |
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| (1) |
I ought to believe
in him and fear him and love him with all my heart and all
my mind and all my soul and all my strength. |
| (2) |
I ought to worship him and give him thanks, to
trust him in every way and to pray to him. |
| (3) |
I ought to honour his holy Name and his word. |
| (4) |
I ought to serve him truly all the days of my
life.
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| 12. |
What ought you to do for other
people?
I ought to love other people as myself and
to do to all men what I would like them to do to me. |
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| (5) |
To love, honour, and help
my father and mother; to honour and obey the Queen and all
who rule for her; to listen to those who look after me, my
teachers in School and in the Church, and those work for;
and to be humble and treat with respect those who know more
than I do |
| (6) |
To hurt nobody by what I
say or do; not to hate in my heart or wish to harm anyone. |
| (7) |
To rule my body and be clean in what I think and
say and do. |
| (8) |
To be true and fair in all I do. |
| (9) |
To keep my tongue from evil
speaking and lying and saying untrue things about others. |
| (10) |
Not to want what belongs
to another, but to do honest work for my food and what I need
and to live as I ought to live in the place to which God shall
call me. |
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| 13. |
My dear child, know this,
that you are not able to do these things by yourself or to
follow God’s commandments or to serve him without the power
he gives you, and you must learn to give time to pray for
it always. Let me hear if you can say the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father ........................
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| 14. |
What do you ask God for in
this prayer?
I ask my Lord God, our Father in Heaven,
who is the giver of all goodness, to give his power to me
and to all people that we may worship him, serve him and obey
him as we ought to do, and I ask God to give us all things
we need for our souls and bodies, and that he will be merciful
to us and forgive us our sins, and that he will save and defend
us from all dangers to our souls and bodies, and that he will
keep us from all sin and wickedness and from the spirit who
is our enemy and from everlasting death; and this I trust
he will do of his kindness and goodness through our Lord Jesus
Christ, and so I say Amen, this is what I wish.
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| 15. |
How many sacraments
did Christ command in his Church?
Two only which all must receive to have everlasting
life: Baptism and the Holy Communion.
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| 16. |
What do you mean by this
word sacrament?
I mean something we can see which is a sign
of what God does for our spirits, which we cannot see. A Sacrament
is given to us by Christ himself as the way in which God’s
love works in us, and as a promise that we do receive it.
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| 17. |
How many parts are there in a sacrament?
Two: the sign we can see, and what God does for our spirits,
which we cannot see.
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| 18. |
What is the sign that we
see in Baptism?
Water, in which the person is baptised in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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| 19. |
What does God do for our spirits that we do not
see?
We die to sin and are born again to a good
life, for we are born wanting to sin but by this sacrament
God gives us new life as his children.
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| 20. |
What must people to be baptised
do?
Change their hearts and turn from sin, and
trust in God; so that they may steadily believe the promises
of God made to them in Baptism.
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| 21. |
Why then are babies baptised
who cannot change their hearts and believe?
They promise to do both by their parents
and Godparents, and when they grow older they themselves must
keep this promise.
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| 22. |
Why was the sacrament of
the Holy Communion commanded?
To show forth the sacrifice on the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his rising again from death
and for the good things that come to us from that.
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| 23. |
What is the sign we see in
the Holy Communion?
Bread and wine, which the Lord has commanded
us to to receive.
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| 24. |
What is the part we cannot
see which these are the sign of?
The Body and Blood of Christ, which those
who believe truly take and receive.
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| 25. |
What are the good
things we get from these?
The Body and Blood of Christ strengthen the
life of our souls as the bread and wine strengthen our bodies.
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| 26. |
What must they do who come
to the Holy Communion?
Examine themselves if they are truly sorry
for the sins they have done, steadily mean to lead a new life,
have a living trust in God’s kindness through Christ, remember
with thanksgiving his death, and be friends with all men.
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CONFIRMATION
¶ At the time told them, all those
to be confirmed shall stand in order before the Bishop and he, or
someone he asked to do so, shall read these words.
MY dear people in the
Lord, in laying on of hands the Church follows the custom of the Apostles
of Christ.For in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter eight, we read
this:
The believers who were scattered went everywhere, preaching
the message. Philip went to the city of Samaria and preached the Messiah
to the people there. The crowds paid close attention to what Philip
said. They all listened to him and saw the miracles that he performed.
When they believed Philip’s message about the Good News of the Kingdom
of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men
and women. The apostles in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria
had received the word of God; so they sent Peter and John to them.
When they arrived, they prayed for the believers that they might receive
the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit had not yet come down on any
of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received
the Holy Spirit.
The Bible here teaches us
that this gift of the Holy Spirit is. given by the laying on of hands
with prayer, and as this gift comes from God alone let us who are
here pray to Almighty God that he will strengthen with his Holy Spirit
in Confirmation those who were made his children in Baptism.
You who are going to be confirmed must say, before
the people here, that you truly mean with the help of this gift to
live your life believing in Christ and obeying God’s will and commandments.
ADDRESS
THE PROMISES
The Bishop shall say—
DO you here before God
and these people turn your back on the devil and all he does, the things
of this world that belong to him, and all the sinful things the body
longs for, so that you will not follow them or let them lead you?
DO you believe all the
Christian teaching of the Apostles’ Creed?
DO you promise that you
will try to do God’s holy will and keep his commandments, and live in
that way all the days of your life?
Answer: Yes, I do.
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THE LAYING ON OF HANDS.
The Bishop—
OUR help is in the Name of the Lord;
Who has made heaven and earth.
Bless the Name of the Lord;
Now and for ever and ever.
Lord hear our prayer;
And let our cry come to you.
Let us pray.
ALMIGHTY and everlasting
God, you have freely given a new birth to these your servants by water
and the Holy Spirit, and have given them forgiveness of all their sins,
strengthen them, we pray you, Lord, with the Holy Spirit, the giver
of strength, and day by day give them more and more your many gifts
of power, a spirit that is wise and understanding, a spirit that knows
what is right and is strong, a spirit that knows you and truly loves
you, and fill them, Lord, with a holy fear of you, now and for ever.
Amen.
¶ Then all of them kneeling
in order before the Bishop, he shall lay his hands on the head of each
of them saying—
In the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
KEEP, Lord, this your
child with your grace that he may be yours for ever, and day
by day be made stronger through your Holy Spirit, till he comes
to your kingdom in heaven. Amen.
Bishop—
The Lord be with you;
And with you.
Let us pray.
OUR FATHER in heaven,
holy be your Name, your rule come, your will be done, in the world as
it is in heaven.. Give us this day our food for today. Forgive us what
we do wrong as we forgive those who do wrong to us. Bring us not into
trouble to try us, but save us from evil. For yours is the rule and
the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
ALMIGHTY and everlasting
God, you make us both to will and to do those things that are good and
please you, King of Heaven. We make our humble prayers to you for these
your servants on whom, following the custom of your holy Apostles, we
have now laid our hands, to make them sure by this sign of your mercy
and loving goodness to them; let your hands Father always be over them,
let your Holy Spirit always be with them, and so lead them to know and
obey your word that in the end they may have everlasting life, through
our Lord Jesus Christ, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and rules,
one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Then the Bishop shall bless them saying—
GO in peace, be
brave, hold fast that which is good, give back to no man evil for evil,
strengthen those who are afraid, hold up the weak, help those in trouble,
honour all men, love and serve the Lord, be full of joy in the power
of the Holy Spirit,
And the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be on you and stay with you
for ever. Amen.
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